Microbacterium species

Microbiology

• Genus of Gram-positive bacilli related to Corynebacterium species
• Notable species that have rarely caused disease in humans include:
  • Microbacterium oxydans
  • Microbacterium paraoxydans
  • Microbacterium foliorum
• Other species include:
  • Microbacterium hydrocarbonoxydans
  • Microbacterium esteraromaticum
  • Microbacterium oleivorans
  • Microbacterium phyllosphaerae
  • Microbacterium thalassium

Clinical Manifestations

• Rare cause of disease in humans, essentially limited to case reports
• Unclear if it causes disease in most cases
• Most common association is central line infections in immmunocompromised patients

Management

• Almost always susceptible to vancomycin, linezolid, and doxycycline
• Usually susceptible to beta-lactam antibiotics, even including penicillin
• Not reliably susceptible to fluoroquinolones